The Translational Systems Core (Core C) will interface with the Project Leaders (Hammond, Roth, and Dillmann), Core A (Farquhar) and Core B (Miyanohara). This shared resource is designed to provide Program scientists, in a single facility, specific techniques that are labor intensive, highly specialized, not generally available to individual laboratories, and expensive. The specific translational systems provided by this Core include detailed cardiovascular physiological studies, the development of cardiovascular disease models, virus vector gene transfer methods, and detailed analysis of excitation-contraction coupling. Physiological assessment will include: i) Transthoracic echocardiography to evaluate cardiac chamber size, wall thickness, and function in vivo; 2) Assessment of contractile function of the heart, including measurement of the end-systolic pressure-volume relationship; 3) The study of isolated perfused hearts, which will allow more refined and specific measurements of LV contractility in a controlled setting isolated from complex reflex activation and adrenergic activation associated with surgical preparations; 4) Telemetry to assess blood pressure and ECG in ambulatory rodents. 4) Detailed cardiac myocyte calcium handling analysis, performed via patch-clamp methods, will be performed at UCLA by a collaborator, Dr Joshua Goldhaber. In addition to providing these studies for all Program Scientists, the Translational Systems Core will provide a highly cost efficient means to conduct such studies in a centralized and well-equipped location, circumventing the need for redundant efforts of individual participating laboratories. By consolidating physiological model development and assessment and viral gene transfer, the cost savings will be considerable.